The Revision Toolbox: Teaching Techniques That Work

"How can I get my students to revise their writing?" If this is one of your most frequently asked questions, then this is the book for you - a guide to specific strategies you can teach to enable your students to re-see and re-shape their writing on multiple levels, from word choice to organization.

Longtime writer and writing teacher Georgia Heard knows firsthand what a daunting task revision can seem to both students and teachers. First, she addresses students' confusion about the differences between editing and revision. She shows you how to reassure your students that revision is not an indicator of bad writing, but an integral part of the writing process. Then Heard provides ready-to-use strategies that take the mystery out of teaching revision and help even the most reluctant writers revise.

Using three main Revision Toolboxes - Words, Structure, and Voice - she offers dozens of specific revision tools to inspire students to revisit their work. In addition, Heard includes:

• a "Revision Lesson" for each tool to show you how to teach that strategy
• techniques to help students reread their writing from different points of view
• conferring techniques to guide you when instructing individual students
• revision examples from students and from Heard's own writing
• "Revision-at-a-Glance" - a quick-reference sheet for students on every revision tool.

Make revision inviting. Make it a part of your students' writing process. Then watch as they fine tune and improve-and the real pleasures of writing and teaching begin.

Writing instructor Heard offers advice to other teachers of creative and essay writing on how to encourage students to revise their work. She offers three contexts (or toolboxes) from which to view revision, centering on the concepts of words, structure, and voice. Techniques for students and tips for teachers on conveying those techniques are explored. Also discussed are one-on-one student conference techniques and other practices. The material seems primarily aimed at teachers of elementary students.
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"How can I get my students to revise their writing?" If this is one of your most frequently asked questions, then this is the book for you - a guide to specific strategies you can teach to enable your students to re-see and re-shape their writing on multiple levels, from word choice to organization. Longtime writer and writing teacher Georgia Heard knows firsthand what a daunting task revision can seem to both students and teachers. First, she addresses students' confusion about the differences between editing and revision. She shows you how to reassure your students that revision is not an indicator of bad writing, but an integral part of the writing process. Then Heard provides ready-to-use strategies that take the mystery out of teaching revision and help even the most reluctant writers revise. Using three main Revision Toolboxes - Words, Structure, and Voice - she offers dozens of specific revision tools to inspire students to revisit their work. In addition, Heard include

Includes bibliographical references (p. 128-129) and index.

An acclaimed poet and writer, GEORGIA HEARD is the author of Writing Toward Home: Tales and Lessons to Find Your Way (Heinemann, 1995), For the Good of the Earth and Sun: Teaching Poetry (Heinemann, 1989), and Creatures of Earth, Sea, and Sky, a book of poetry for young children. She has also published numerous essays on poetry and writing, and her poems have appeared in a variety of literary journals. She speaks to thousands of people every year at conferences throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia, and also travels extensively as a writing consultant and poet-in-residence for schools and universities. Heinemann has also produced The Words of True Poems (1998), an audiotape on which Heard reads a selection of her favorite poems, prefacing each poem with a brief introductory comment on its uses in the classroom. Ms. Heard's work has appeared in numerous magazines and professional journals and she has been interviewed on National Public Radio's "P

Transforming Our "Revision Vision"

Revision Toolboxes

Revision Toolbox: Words

Revision Toolbox: Structure

Revision Toolbox: Voice

Deep Reading

Revision Conferences

Revision Centers Appendixes: Revision Survey Revision Strategies at a Glance Process/Progress Revision Sheet Quotes About Revision Peer Conferring Revision Questions Revision Symbols and Devices Revision of My Poem "Dragonfly" Student Revision Examples